Billiards, in one form or another has been played the world over for more than a hundred years. The game commonly known as “pool” is a modern descendent of an older game. Regardless of the version, billiards is commonly played on a specialized table with a set of spherical balls, a stick (or “cue”) and a rack. Generally, modern pool uses a triangular rack into which fifteen balls are fitted. The cue ball is a sixteenth ball, generally of the same size and shape as the other fifteen. Accordingly, a modern pool set includes sixteen total balls. When playing alternative forms of pool, such as eight-ball, nine balls may be used (eight balls plus the cue ball). Even so, most pool sets still include sixteen balls as some may be omitted to play eight-ball or other variants.
Typically and as seen in billiards halls the world over, a square 4×4 tray is used to carry and store billiard balls. The balls and rack are often stored separately, with the rack hanging from or stored at a billiards table and the balls in the aforementioned square tray. This works well for billiards halls, where customers retrieve the balls (in the tray) from a clerk and carry them to the table, where the rack awaits.
However, the square billiards ball tray and separately stored triangular rack may be less efficient when a person has their own billiards set and desires to transport it from one place to another. In such a situation, the owner generally carries the rack and billiard balls (in tray or square case) separately.
Further, trays, racks and chalk are often subject to theft from billiards halls. Theft of racks and chalk may be difficult to detect immediately since the chalk and racks may be left at a pool table while the balls and tray are returned. However, it can be inconvenient to store both racks and balls since more storage space is generally required.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved billiard ball tray and case.